A Sprinkle of Cinnamon
by Pas trop vite
Summary: Sakura attends a new high school, one with a cinnamon stick for a mascot. Moving forward is hard when someone is pushing you backwards, and someone won't rest until Sakura tells them just what made her switch to Fire High. ItaSaku AU
1. A Camaro Named Galadriel

_Fear._

Neither the friendliest of emotions nor the one I most frequently experience, but it was there, solid and strong, wrapped more tightly around me than my sheets. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, it felt as if the 200-thread count was intent on strangling me and I hurriedly jumped out of bed, away from the clinging sheets.

Of course I quickly remembered why it was unwise to hop so animatedly out of bed when I promptly fell into an intimate position with my carpet, tripped by the very fabric I'd been trying to free myself from. I breathed deeply to let the panic fade, not ready to get up just yet. When my breathing regulated, I slowly pushed myself up from the floor and proceeded to sink into my morning routine. My actions were slow and deliberate, but that was the side effect of shoving my dream out of my mind. I preferred not to think about certain things if I didn't have to.

After about ten more minutes of morning typicality, I was in the kitchen, grabbing s'mores poptarts from the toaster on my way out the door. I frowned as I locked the door behind me one last time, giving the faded wallpaper and beige furniture one last, reminiscent glance.

It's never easy to move away from home, especially when doing so involves entering a new school district. But Sister Dearest had said it would stop the nightmares if only I would move away from what is, to my "Young, impressionable eyes," a "crime scene". Sister Dearest happens to be a Psych major and likes to pretend she already has her Master's Degree in Psychology.

I sighed, looking away from the living room I had grown up in. Today would be my first day at my new school; hopefully I could stay low-key and not be made a spectacle of on my first day. Step one: drive to school. I set my poptarts down on the black roof of my beautiful red-bodied Camaro and shuffled through my shoulder bag, searching madly for the directions to school that Sister Dearest had oh-so-lovingly printed off for me. I found the papers, silently thanking the creators of online road maps for their generosity. I slipped my bag into the back seat as I climbed into the driver's side. Step one-A: put the directions in proper order. I looked briefly at each page I'd taken out of my bag and noticed that the directions on top were the ones to my new apartment with a note from my sister attached.

"_I know you'll want your own set of keys, but I can't get a new key minted until tomorrow. Be home by 3:00 PM if you want me to be able to let you in before I have my evening class._

_Love ya!_

_-Ayame_

_P.S. Don't forget to hand in your health forms"_

I put that set of directions aside and skimmed through the directions to Fire High, home of the Red Wave, whose mascot was a stick of cinnamon. Yes, I am still getting over the fact that the school's team name was the Red Wave. Not to mention that the mascot most certainly did _not_ look like a cinnamon stick. It looks more like a pedophilic cross of a tree and an alien, with a little bit of almond mixed in. And it looks terrible in photographs, if the internet is any judge. I heard that the mascot gives off a wonderful cinnamon odor though.

Step one-B: exit the driveway without backing into any of assortment of boxes lying around. I shifted the car into gear, feeling Gala sputter in her disuse. I frowned, she might need a tune-up; I felt bad for neglecting her for so long. I patted her dashboard consolingly, promising an oil change and car wash, pleased to hear Galadriel's engine purring in seeming agreement. I backed up slowly, turned the car, narrowly avoiding a particularly precarious stack of cardboard containers, and headed down the driveway. As I turned onto my road, Pleasant View, I heard an odd clunk. I was puzzled as to the source until I realized I'd failed step two: eat a good breakfast.

_Damn poptarts…_

* * *

I sighed, fed up with waiting for step three: deliver health forms. Who knew that so many people went to the nurse's office in the morning? All I wanted was to drop off my health forms. This was the second big wait because I'd started out handing them in to the principle, and was subsequently told how to find the nurse's office so I could hand my forms in to the nurse. Maybe if I stopped thinking of things in steps, it would help. I'll try that out, because I'll just end up losing count.

Just then, a school bell rang, effectively scaring me into dropping my forms. By the time I'd picked them all up, all of the other students were gone from the nurse's office. I smiled, and handed the nurse my papers. She gave me a pass to get to my class so that my teacher would know why I was late. On my way out of the nurse's office, I noticed for the first time a row of small beds tucked by the windows. Out of curiosity's sake, I walked closer, wanting to know if the beds were actually comfortable. I was late for class anyway.

I sat down on one bed, deciding that while the mattress wasn't very comfortable, the blankets were softer than I expected and the pillows were at 4-star hotel quality. I noticed someone was actually using the bed to my right, although they weren't awake. I guess the beds were good enough to fall asleep in if you needed somewhere to crash.

However, looking over at the someone to my right, I saw deep pulses of hair that swooped down to caress his face more gently than sunlight envelopes a flower petal. His nose jutted to form an aristocratic line pointing to the blanket that covered his mouth. A hand poked out from beneath that same blanket, sporting the slim fingers of one accustomed to playing piano or painting. An artist's fingers.

Not wanting to be around for the awkward greeting were he to wake up, I drank in one last glimpse and scurried off to my new educating facility and the possible friends occupying it.


	2. You had me at Cupcakes

I let out a sigh as I entered the bustle of activity that was the cafeteria. Only two more classes after lunch and I'd even already made friends who shared one of those classes with me. I turned to one such friend.

"Uh, Hinata, would you go up to buy lunch with me? I don't really know how it works around here," I asked, a little embarrassed to need help with such a small task.

Hinata's bright smile as she nodded her agreement assuaged the embarrassment I felt. She led me to a long line of students waiting to buy lunch and stayed with me until I finally received my food. It looked oddly appetizing, but maybe that was only because I'd missed breakfast. I paid for my lunch at the register and followed Hinata to her table, packed full on one half and empty on the other. I wondered faintly if this school was like my old one in that everyone always sat in the same seats.

We headed towards the empty half of the table where I sat between Hinata and a girl with long blond hair that she called Ino. She had a very pretty shimmering butterfly barrette in her hair.

"Hey Ino, your barrette is amazing," I said, smiling at her.

She smiled right back. "I like this girl already. You're new here, right?"

"Yeah," I replied, scooping up some soup and blowing the steam away. 'I just transferred from Iwa."

"Ooh," Ino winced, "Never hear anything good about that school. Is it true that one of the bullies beat a kid so bad that he died of blood loss?"

"Unfortunately, yes. The administration's so busy sucking up to the school board that they don't pay attention to what goes on in the school. What about here at Fire High? There isn't too much bullying here, is there?" I questioned, genuinely curious. The kid that had died was in special education; if the bullies here were that low, I'd ask my sister to transfer me to a different district.

"Oh don't worry," Hinata chimed in, "the bullies here aren't that bad; they're more bark than bite. As far as I know, at least."

I raised an eyebrow. Did Hinata mean that they'd threatened her before?

She didn't seem to notice my contemplation of her statement. Maybe I was just over-analyzing. Or doing that thing Sister Dearest always accused me of where you see your own problems in someone else. I brushed away the thought with a subject change.

"Where's Shikamaru? Didn't you say he usually sits with you at lunch, Hinata?" Hinata was in my math class and so was Shikamaru, a very brainy kid who wasn't all that bad looking.

Ino, who had been gulping down strawberry milk, turned to face me.

"Why are you so interested in Shika?" she demanded.

I realized she must have noticed that he isn't bad looking too. I thought quickly of a way to explain I had no interest in him that wasn't platonic. Just because you notice that a boy is cute doesn't mean you like him that way.

"He promised to discuss the practical use of tangent waves. We were arguing during math class and I said there's no way they could be useful in real life because nothing living has so many asymptotes blocking its transmission."

"Speak of the devil," said a masculine voice from across the table. I looked away from Ino to see Shikamaru slouching in Ino's direction.

Then I realized that Shikamaru had referred to himself when he said "Speak of the devil." How nerdy. But then we were both in the same Advanced Trig class so I shouldn't have been surprised.

"About those practical uses, since you brought up the subject," he began.

Ino rolled her eyes and smiled, no longer thinking me a threat to her.

* * *

English happened to be my final class and I thought it a fine way to end the day. However, it was just my luck to get placed in a Literature class intended for seniors. Apparently my old school had a vigorous Literature program that prepared me exactly for this class. What that meant was that I would make no friends in this class. Seniors aren't usually very friendly towards lowly sophomores like myself. The boy next to me hadn't even spoken when he picked up my pencil for me, not even a "you're welcome" to my "thank you", didn't even look at me for that matter.

"Everyone, look at your neighbor," commanded the teacher. "The one sitting nest to you, Watanabe. This person will be your partner for the assignment on the board. In case you need a reminder, I will always be able to tell if there are not two distinct voices to the writing. I suggest you get started, it will be due Monday."

Today was Friday. Why did I have to choose to start school today? Oh that's right, Dearest Sister thought starting on a Friday would be easiest, less homework, she said.

_A project over the weekend? One where you had to work with a partner? Yeah that's definitely less homework, sis. How is that fair? What if people in here couldn't meet up with their partners over the weekend? …Oh well they're all seniors, so they all have cars. But what about… Oh yeah, I have a car too, poor Gala, she still needs that oil change. I guess it _is_ a fair project… Better get working, maybe we can somehow finish during class._

I looked again at my partner, the boy who hadn't so much as glanced at me when he returned my pencil. Might as well try to get him used to working with me.

"Hi, I'm Haruno Sakura. What's your name?"

"Uchiha Itachi," he said, turning to look at me for the first time.

My eyes widened as I realized this was the same boy who had been sleeping in the nurse's office that morning. I quickly hid my astonishment because I didn't want to have to explain the incident; I would end up sounding very creepy.

"You've obviously heard of me, but I've never heard of you. Where are you from?"

As much as I was getting tired of being asked my origin like I was some alien species, I was relieved that he had written my astonishment off as something normal. It made me wonder why people thought so highly of him, though.

"Just transferred from Iwa. You think we could get this assignment done during class?"

I was graced with a low chuckle.

"When Hatake-sensei gives weekend assignments, it's always a full week's worth of work."

I growled my dissent as I found proof of the veracity of his statement on the board. We had to design a 10-minute play to summarize an assigned book. We were lucky enough to get Voltaire's _Candide_. And by lucky I don't mean lucky. At least the book the teacher handed us was a translated version.

The bell chose just them to toll. I had no clue it was so close to the end of school. By the time I gathered all of my books, my partner, and everyone else for that matter, had already left the room. Even Hatake-sensei was gone.

_I really need to learn how to get my books together faster. How are we going to do the project together if we didn't get a chance to exchange numbers or anything? Hatake-sensei specifically said that he'd be able to tell if there weren't two voices to the writing style. Sigh…_

I walked to my locker and gathered my homework up into my bag, heading toward the school parking lot in search of my pre-assigned parking space. It was near the back of the building, spot number 176. it was more difficult to locate since I'd exited the building a different way than I had entered it, but the time spent searching for my beautiful red-and-black Camaro gave me time to realize that the weather was sinfully perfect; bright blue skies and just hot enough to make your skin tingle when you stepped outside.

I dropped my bag into the backseat and pulled out the directions to the apartment and skimmed them over. Once I had a good enough idea of where I would have to go, I slid the key into the ignition and turned it. Gala started up, then promptly sputtered out.

"Oh no, Gala, don't do this," I pleaded, stroking the dashboard as I tried to key her up again.

She refused to work, no matter how much sweet talk I spouted. I slapped the dashboard and looked up to see no more cars in the lot.

_Guess I'll have to go in and ask the office for help, maybe it's just the battery and we can jump-start poor Gala…_

I clambered out of the car, in a hurry to get to the office before it closed. In my hurry, I didn't notice the person standing next to my driver's side door until I had walked straight into him. Luckily he was able to steady both me and himself and I stepped back with a quick apology.

It was when I stepped back that I noticed the set of jumper cables slung across one shoulder and also when I noticed that the person was Itachi. He had a small grease stain on his crisp white dress shirt and even smaller sweat stains from the heat that I noticed as he lifted the hood of my car with the arm that wasn't dangling cables.

"Need a hand?" Itachi asked whilst already connecting the cables.

"A hand would be lovely, but how are those jumper cables going to do any good without a…" I trailed off as my eyes locked on a sleek candy blue Audi R8. I think I might have actually drooled a bit.

"Let me just bring the car up so we can do this."

And so we hooked the beauty up to Galadriel and her engine purred like a kitten getting a tummy rub.

I hopped out of Gala and practically danced over to Itachi, and couldn't resist the urge to give him a huge hug. He simply stood stiffly and I quickly released him, realizing how awkward it must be for him.

"Sorry, I'm just so happy, I thought she was a gonner," I smiled apologetically.

"She?" Itachi asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Gala. Short for Galadriel. Great car like that needs a great name."

"A woman who names her car? Rare indeed. I will escort you home in case Galadriel dies out on the road."

_A perfect gentleman, how kind of him, but entirely unnecessary._

"No, she won't die out—"

"I insist, besides, once you get home we can exchange numbers and such so we can work on Candide."

It made perfect sense when the words came out of his mouth, but as I started the engine, I realized that we could just as easily have exchanged numbers right now.

_Oh well, no use trying to fight off the chivalrous instinct of a kind classmate. _

* * *

After a couple not-so-legal U-turns, we arrived at my new apartment. I wrote down my number for Itachi while he handed me a business card with his on it. Fancy that, he has a business card.

My apartment was ground-level and there was an open spot right in front of it, odd that my sister hadn't chosen that spot. I waltzed up to the door and fumbled around in my pocket for the key, panicking when I couldn't find one. Then I remembered something.

'_Get home by 3 if you want me to be able to let you in before my evening class.'_

I turned around, disappointed and confused as to where I would spend the next who-knows-how-many hours until Dearest Sister got home with my key. I kicked rather viciously at a nearby rock and it skidded to a halt by a very expensive looking shoe. I looked up at the owner of the shoe, thinking I'd just met a neighbor, but then realized that Itachi had been waiting until I got in and was standing by the driver's side of his car, door still open.

"I don't think the rock deserved that," was his only comment.

"Well, I suppose you're right. But I don't have a key, my sister didn't copy me one yet. Any chance you'd be willing to go to the library to work on Candide right now?" I questioned in a small voice.

_Who am I kidding, he probably already has plans. Maybe I could just work alone for a bit to get us ahead of the game..._

"I have a brief appointment actually, but if you don't mind forcing small talk with my cousin for a bit over tea and cupcakes, we could work on it at my house," Itachi reasoned.

"You had me at 'cupcakes'."


	3. Gruber the Business Man

I carefully removed my seatbelt and exited Itachi's car as carefully as I possibly could, closing the door with as gentle a push as I would give a child riding their first bicycle. We left my car by the apartment to save gas and to minimize wear-and-tear on my mistreated vehicle. Right as we pulled away from her, I swore to myself that I would never neglect the need for an oil change again. I swore that same vow when I saw a similar Camaro model parked in front of Itachi's Audi.

However, I shook my mourning from my mind; right now I had cupcakes to look forward to and I couldn't hide the excited look on my face as Itachi led me up the stone steps that wound towards his front door. He tried the knob and walked into a large foyer with a high skylight that made the navy walls seem to glow. I trudged in after him, making sure to thoroughly wipe my shoes on the mat in front of the door first.

Thankfully, Itachi motioned for me to leave my shoes by the door, so I wouldn't have to worry about dirtying his gorgeous house. I left my bag by the door as well so I wouldn't have to lug it around.

"Shisui, I've told you dozens of times to lock the door after going through it. As punishment, you need to entertain my guest until my appointment ends," Itachi said with his voice raised slightly. He whispered, "If he does anything weird, I'll be outside on the patio."

At my panicked look, he amended his word choice.

"He shouldn't do anything abnormal; he just has a tendency to start antagonizing my little brother. I'm sure that you would able to get them to stop bickering, but feel free to interrupt my appointment."

I raised an eyebrow at Itachi's apparent want for interruption and jumped when I suddenly heard a smooth, deep voice from behind me.

"Itachi, you do me no justice, I can behave perfectly in front of ladies as pretty as this one," the man chastised, locking the front door. "Hello there, I am Uchiha Shisui, Itachi's cousin and a great baker. I would love to have you try one of my cupcakes, I made a batch just this morning and neither Itachi nor Sasuke ate any," Shisui revealed.

"I'm Haruno Sakura and I would love to try a cupcake," I said, beaming at Shisui.

He smiled back, a genuine smile that lit up his eyes and made me wonder if he was single. It also reminded me that I probably should have asked Itachi who would be home before I agreed to accompany him.

I pictured my mother's reaction to me telling her that I'd agreed to go home with a boy I'd just met. She'd have an incredulous look on her face and start telling me about kids that get kidnapped and murdered when making such mistakes. Then I would tell her that Hinata had told me of how Itachi's brother Sasuke never sat back and watched people get hurt; he would always help Naruto when someone picked on him. My mother would take that moment to point out that just because Sasuke was Itachi's brother didn't mean that Sasuke would be home, or even that they lived together and she'd start running her hands through her hair at breakneck speed, worrying about all the things that could have happened to me.

At once, the mental picture of my concerned mother was both comforting and disconcerting, causing my smile to falter a bit. Itachi had already begun to walk away towards where I assumed the patio must be, but Shisui noticed the lapse in happiness.

Our two pairs of socked feet padded across crimson carpet and into a large room with black leather couches where I promptly sat while Shisui continued on, saying he'd be right back.

I looked around the room, seeing a large television with several game systems tucked below it and chrome shelves set into the dark purple walls. Pictures of Itachi and Sasuke with two adults who must be their parents adorned the shelves along with random trinkets like a feminine music box that resembled one my mother would let me play with when I was young.

And there I went, thinking about my mother again. It would help if there weren't so many things that reminded me of her.

Shisui walked back in with a plate of cupcakes in one hand and a teapot in the other, setting both on a table near the couch and pouring tea into two teacups that he used the cupcake plate to carry.

The cupcakes were red with carefully swirled white frosting on top and Shisui was quick to hand me one. It was sadly shaped exactly like the fake-tasting store-bought cupcakes, which made me reluctant to try it. I never liked the kind of cupcakes that grocery stores sold; they held the kind of faded flavor you would expect to taste if you were crying.

I couldn't tell Shisui any of that, even if his cupcakes tasted like the poor excuses for cupcakes that they were sculpted to resemble. I took a bite, expecting the worst, and to my surprise, I was completely and utterly wrong about what it would taste like.

The second the frosting met my tongue, my taste buds were dancing in bliss and when my teeth met the red cake I decided I wouldn't mind if I died right then, because I would die a happy woman. The frosting was definitely cream cheese-based and the cake was just purely wonderful. I knew that if happiness had a flavor, it would be this, and I told Shisui just as much.

"You can have as many as you'd like," he exclaimed, looking positively pleased and practically preening under my awed gaze.

I took a sip of tea and finished my cupcake, reaching for another one.

"These are the most amazing cupcakes I've ever had in my life," I said, taking another bite. "I hope you own a bakery because these would sell for some serious cash," I continued, talking through my cupcake-filled mouth.

"You know, it's rude to talk with your mouth full," Shisui teased. I looked down in embarrassment. "Nah, don't worry, I think it's cute."

"You're pretty cute yourself." I promptly took another bite of cupcake. Did I really just say that?

Shisui was saved from reply by another boy walking into the room. The new boy matched Hinata's description of Sasuke.

"Don't waste your time," Sasuke advised, sitting on the same couch as me and taking a cupcake. "He doesn't like girls." He frowned at the cupcake. "What kind are these?"

_He's gay? Figures…_

Now that I was looking for signs, I noticed that his earthen hair was perfectly gelled, his v-neck dipped low enough to show a hair-free chest, and the most implicative sign: his nails were perfectly shaped. Most men didn't take time and money out for manicures.

"Aww, Sasuke, you always ruin my fun," Shisui pouted. "It was just some innocent flirting. Unlike you, she actually likes my cupcakes. They're red velvet."

"Maybe I would like your cupcakes if you hadn't filled mine with mustard the first time you had me try one," Sasuke pointed out, glancing warily at the cupcake he held. "I'm guessing she's Itachi's guest."

"What, you don't think I would have a pretty girl over for tea and cupcakes? You really think Itachi's more likely to have a girl over than I am? Girls don't hate me just because of my orientation; they're actually more accepting than men, so it's more likely for me to have a girl over than a guy. Just because you're homophobic doesn't mean everyone else is, Sasuke," Shisui practically shouted.

"I'm not homophobic," Sasuke defended.

"Oh yeah, then why did you choose to sit next to a complete stranger instead of the cousin you've known since you were born? Why do you always make excuses not to meet my boyfriends? Why have you barely even _talked_ to me since I came out? Sasuke, it's hard enough without my own **family** member rejecting me like I have some kind of disease!"

"You do," Sasuke retorted, fuming at how he was being accused. "It's called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome."

"Sasuke, that's disgustingly ignorant, AIDS is not caused by being gay; you just get it once you have HIV, which is also not caused by being gay. Both diseases can be passed during exchanges between gay men, but they can also be passed during sex between a man and a woman. You're just as likely to have AIDS as Shisui is," I said through gritted teeth. The last comment was only true if Shisui hadn't had sex; assumptions can help win arguments.

When Shisui leaped at Sasuke, I considered not getting Itachi to break them up. Sasuke deserved every punch that Shisui could land. Such ignorance was sickening and I almost wished I could punch Sasuke myself. There was no way Sasuke was as kind as Hinata had made him seem.

I got out of the way before I could get hit by a badly aimed jab and set off in the direction I had seen Itachi go.

* * *

Eventually I reached a screen door that led outside to where the patio must have been. I paused, hearing Itachi, who sounded annoyed. I felt an irrational dislike for the person who was annoying the impassive Itachi.

"I have told you many times, Gruber-san, I will not sell you the company. It is mine to represent and take care of. These meetings grow tiresome."

_Tiresome? I guess I'm his knight in shining armor today. If only Sasuke and Shisui weren't arguing so heatedly…_

"But Itachi-san, I think—"

I cut off the annoying business man with my entrance.

"Itachi! Come quickly please, I really need you right now," I gasped, pretending to be out of breath for the sake of the business man. The man needed to know that this couldn't wait, whereas his menial discussion could wait forever.

"I'm sorry, Gruber-san, you'll have to excuse me for today, this must be urgent or Sakura-chan would not have interrupted us," Itachi explained, shaking the man's hand in exit.

"No, I'd like to come with you," the man insisted. "Maybe I can be of assistance," he continued.

I now had a reason to dislike the man. Well, a more legitimate reason. He was intruding on a private matter while also trying to win Itachi over. On top of the man's greasy, balding hair and the crumbs in his mustache and beard, the man had not left a very good impression. I was glad that Itachi hadn't sold him whatever he had been trying to buy.

Then my thoughts turned to what Itachi had said.

_Sakura-__**chan**__? _

Well I guess it was to show I was an important person in Itachi's life instead of a random classmate, just like how I faked being out of breath. In my mulling over his words, I almost missed Itachi's gratified expression.

He gave me a small smile and I momentarily forgot what I was doing, remembering again the calm expression I'd seen on his sleeping form in the nurse's office. And remembering just how striking Shisui had been when he smiled. Maybe all Uchiha males were beautiful when they smiled.

Thinking about Shisui, I recalled my purpose for finding Itachi and quickly explained Sasuke's provocation of Shisui as I led Itachi and the business man, Gruber, apparently, to the purple room.

Sasuke and Shisui were fighting on the floor and I suddenly thought that they were lucky to have a crimson carpet, because if either of them drew blood...

Gruber swiftly reached down and pried Sasuke off of Shisui, notably shying away from Shisui. Perhaps he was homophobic too.

"Young men, there is no reason to resort to your fists! Itachi-san, I'm sure you can take it from here; I'll see you at a later date. Teach them some manners, won't you?" the man suggested, dusting off his undisturbed coat and walking out the front door.

I saw Itachi's eye twitch, perhaps at the man's implication that his relatives had no manners.

In the distance, the Camaro's engine gunned up. I'd know that sound anywhere. Another reason to dislike the man: he was flaunting his able-bodied Camaro while Galadriel was limp, burning in the heat in front of my apartment.

To my surprise, Shisui and Sasuke ceased to show signs of hostility when the man left. In fact, once he shut the door, they sat quite peaceably, each sipping tea.

_What? Either they're too scared to fight in front of Itachi or they just don't care anymore… But they were fighting tooth and nail just a second ago!_

That's when I noticed that neither Sasuke nor Shisui had any visible injuries from there scuffle. Which was very odd, considering they had been fighting for at least ten minutes.

I looked around the room, then up at the ceiling, as if the furnishings would give me the answers I sought.

Itachi sat down, not looking at all as confused as I felt. So finally I had to ask out loud.

"What happened? Why aren't you two still trying to murder each other? I thought…" I trailed off, exasperated.

I noticed Shisui and Sasuke exchange a look and Shisui nodded, as if telling Sasuke he could explain.

"Well, Sakura-san," Sasuke started, but I cut him off.

"Don't call me that. How do you know my name anyway?"

"Shisui told me. Sakura, Shisui and I fight all the time, so we know what words we mean and what words we don't mean. I know that just because he's homosexual doesn't mean he has AIDS. He knows that I'm not homophobic and that he's still family to me, regardless of orientation."

"Then why did you let me believe that you were going to kill each other?" I demanded, feeling excluded and used.

"Itachi gave you permission to interrupt his meeting. We knew you would interrupt the meeting if we were acted badly enough, so we staged a fight to get you to tell Itachi you needed him for private matters. We had to pretend in case the business man insisted to come along, which he did."

"But how did you know he would come along? Most decent people wouldn't intrude like that. And why did you want to interrupt his meeting in the first place? It seemed important," I shot back, still feeling used.

Shisui answered this time.

"We've tried this before and he tried to check out the truth last time, though Itachi didn't let him, so we figured he'd demand to see for himself if we tried it again. We interrupted the meeting because he's an annoying twit who needs to stop trying to swindle Itachi into selling to him. Itachi will never sell to him and he's simply a nuisance. However, Itachi here thinks that if he doesn't agree to meet with Gruber, then Gruber will resort to other measures. Besides, Gruber's a homophobe."

"You could have just told me and I would have helped you," I challenged. "I would have been a more valuable pawn if I had known what you were up to."

And with that said, I took Itachi's hand and led him away from the two men that thought I wasn't worthy of the knowledge of what I was helping them do. I released Itachi and picked up my bag when we walked past the front door. I rummaged around for _Candide_ as we trekked through Itachi's large house.

A spiral staircase met my eyes as my hand closed around _Candide_ and I decided going upstairs would be all the better for getting away from those jerks who thought little of me. I let Itachi take the lead and he led me up to the first landing of the stairs. I wondered how many landings there were as I looked up at how the mahogany continued up without us.

"This way," Itachi prompted, noticing that I stopped walking.

I continued trailing after him until we got to a door with a painting of a phoenix beside it.

"We can work in my room, since you were so insistent on going up the stairs. My desk is wide enough for both of us to sit at it."

I stepped into his room and the first thing I noticed was how soft the carpeting was.

_I wish my carpet was this soft… And wow, I wish my bed was that big, I bet he jumped on it alllll day when he was little_

I snickered a little at the thought of fully grown Itachi jumping on his bed. He shot me a look and I halted my merriment.

"I was just picturing you jumping on your bed like a little kid. Might as well laugh a little before attempting _Candide_," I explained.

Itachi smirked.

"You know, Candide is a comedy," he pointed out.

"So?"

"So you don't need to laugh before reading a comedy."

I just set my bag open and opened _Candide_ without replying.

_I will not feel stupid, I will not feel stupid, I will not feel stupid… _

**Sooo hello there :) I hope you liked this chapter. If you did, let me know! If you didn't, also let me know! And please tell me why :) I love all of you, thank you for your time**


	4. Bacon Pizza is the Best Apology

"Come in," Itachi commanded in response to a knock on the door to his room.

Shisui and Sasuke entered, bearing more cupcakes and also pizza and soda.

"Sakura, I'm sorry," Shisui began. "We should've told you that it was a fake fight. It's just difficult to trust strangers."

"Tell me about it," I replied sarcastically. "Apology accepted, I shouldn't have gotten so upset about that," I continued, swallowing my pride as I admitted to having overreacted.

"Me too," Sasuke agreed, and thrust the box of pizza in my direction. "Here."

I raised an eyebrow; Sasuke hadn't specified whom he was agreeing with, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he was agreeing with Shisui's apology. Apparently the younger Uchiha had more trouble forming the words "I'm sorry."

Sasuke opened the pizza box so I could see what kind of pizza it was: half bacon and half meat-lover's. How very manly a choice. I couldn't hold anything against the choice because bacon pizza smells majestic, so I tore a piece off and started eating it, only realizing how hungry I was when the slice was suddenly gone and I was reaching for another one.

_Just how long have we been working? We finished reading _Candide_, now we just need to start creating our ten-minute play summary. It's good to have a comedy because people always like a performance better if you make them laugh. Might be difficult for them to laugh at Itachi though… Hmmm…_

"…right, Sakura?" someone asked me.

"Could you repeat that?" I asked, a little embarrassed that I was so focused on ways to tell people it would be okay to laugh at Itachi. My mom would always complain that I was never focused on _now_, but rather always focused on _then_ or _if_.

"Shisui was telling us how amazing you thought his cupcakes were and how you even thought he should open a shop to sell them," Sasuke affirmed.

I smiled and reached for another cupcake, finishing it off before I replied.

"Most definitely. I can't believe you haven't had any yet, are you cupcake-abstinent or something?" I questioned, looking accusingly at Itachi. "I mean, I knew you were prude, but that's a bit extreme."

Shisui started laughing and Sasuke smirked, both obviously enjoying my verbal jab.

"If I'm cupcake-abstinent, that makes you a cupcake whore," Itachi replied matter-of-factly, looking pointedly at what would be my fifth total cupcake.

Sasuke glared at Itachi and Shisui slapped Itachi's arm, saying, "Don't you dare say that to her, even if you're talking about cupcakes."

"It's okay," I intervened. "He's just jealous because he's not a cupcake."

I let a smirk slip across my face and stood up.

"I should be getting home now, I guess I'll see all of you tomorrow," I concluded. "So who wants to drive me home?"

Itachi stood, handing me my bag from its place at his feet. As I slipped the strap over my shoulder, Shisui got up and spread his arms out in my direction, which confused me until suddenly his arms were around me. I tensed, and then relaxed, remembering it was Shisui with his arms around me, the boy who gave me cupcakes, the boy who wasn't interested in women anyway. He said goodbye and pushed a box of what he said were brownies into my arms. Sasuke started in my direction, unsure of how to say farewell and I extended a hand to give an awkward handshake while trying to hold onto the oblong brownie box with my other hand.

Itachi led the way back to the foyer with the skylight, where I fastened my shoes. I looked out the large, star-shaped skylight, noticing that it was late enough for the stars to be pinching the black from the ceiling of the world.

_How long have I been here?_

We walked to his car in silence, the only sound being the grating of shoes against stone steps and then their scuffle against smooth tar.

Itachi unlocked his car and I opened the passenger door gingerly, deciding how I would get in without bumping my bag or the box against his perfect paint job.

"You can put those in the back," Itachi offered, popping the trunk open. He took my bag and box, set them down himself, and closed the trunk all in one smooth motion.

I stroked the car with the back of my hand, marveling at how it seemed to sparkle in the dim light. I didn't know that the color blue could be that luminous.

"Would you like to drive it?"

I blinked, completely sure that I had imagined those words falling from Itachi's mouth.

"Did you just offer to let me drive?" I asked, not even bothering to disguise the surprise in my voice.

"No, I asked you to tie my shoe."

I looked down at Itachi's shoe, the very same shoe that I had been so happy to see earlier that day, the shoe that waited in front of my new apartment to make sure I got in, the shoe I accidentally kicked a pebble at, the shoe that led me to cupcakes and an exciting day, and the perfectly tied shoe that was now offering to let me drive an Audi R8.

"If I'm drooling, it is _so_ not my fault," I replied in awe as Itachi dropped into the passenger seat.

"Just be gentle with her," Itachi said as I walked around to the driver's side.

"Her?" I queried with a smile as I sank into the slick leather seat and set my hands on the wheel.

"I name my cars too."

"Do you now? What's her name?"

"Pushkari. Kari for short. It's Sanskrit for 'like the blue lotus.'"

_That's a nice meaning and all, but it's so obscure… What will he name his poor children?_

* * *

It was nerve-wracking to drive such a nice car; I was so paranoid of hitting things that I was reminded of my first day out with Gala.

However, despite how nervous I was while driving the car, I felt absolutely exhilarated when I parked, so exhilarated that I didn't stop myself from hugging Itachi the second he stood from the car.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou," I told the grease stain on his crisp white shirt.

He was stiff in my arms.

"You handle it well. I apologize," he replied, and gave a quick, weak hug back.

I let go and stepped back, wondering what he was apologizing for.

"…_that makes you a cupcake whore_"

Ohhhh.

"It really wasn't that offensive a comment. If you called me an actual whore, however… Well let's just not find out what would happen if you did that. Anyway, don't worry about it. Oh, what are we going to do about finishing our work tomorrow? Or we could do it Sunday, it should only take a couple of hours to create and practice a mini play," I rambled on.

"Tomorrow would be better."

"Okay, then how about we do it at one of our homes?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow at me and I realized how what I just said could be taken the wrong way. I bit my thumb at him.

"These aren't Shakespearian times; people are more likely to be turned on by that than insulted."

I blinked. I was surprised that he realized I was biting my thumb as a Shakespearian insult instead of as a bad habit.

"It's that much better when someone doesn't know you're insulting them, I was actually surprised that even you noticed," I replied.

"Even me?" Itachi smirked. I almost smacked myself for implying that he was someone special.

"Yeah, you're a senior. You're supposed to know more than me, even if we are in the same literature class. Romeo and Juliet was a terrible play anyway, I should have taken something from Macbeth."

"You just get more and more interesting," was Itachi's response and it seemed to surprise him as much as it did me.

"What's so interesting?" I asked with a furrowed brow.

"While some people might call Romeo and Juliet cliché or inane, they wouldn't call it terrible. Especially if they were a girl."

"Oh don't be so sexist. It's terrible because Romeo's a pansy and Juliet's overly dramatic."

"'Oh no, Rosaline won't have sex with me, life is over, love suc— Look at that girl, I must be in love, she even understands my euphemisms!'" Itachi said in a purposely high voice, mocking Romeo.

"'Hey Romeo,'" I began in as deep a voice I could muster, "'touching hands is like making out. Why are you Romeo? You should be Fred or Joe; I can't be seen with a guy named _Romeo_. Let me fake my own death to be with you, then you can change your name.'"

"'Juliet is dead! How can I live without her? I can't, she wouldn't want me to live and be happy; I should just kill myself so we can both be dead!'" Itachi slumped to the ground, pretending to be dead.

"'Romeo is dead! He must have thought I was dead! Sweet dagger, kill me because Romeo wouldn't want me to live and be happy, he'd want me to die!'" I mimed stabbing myself and fell dramatically next to Itachi.

I burst out laughing and he joined me. We sat there laughing until my sides hurt. Finally, Itachi stood, said he needed to get going, and pointed to the door to my apartment, where my sister stood waiting for me.

_Maybe it won't be so hard to get people to laugh at our play after all…_

* * *

A knock on the door to my room woke me up the next morning. I fell asleep after showering, putting away all of the things I brought from our house, telling my sister not to eat my brownies, and moving my bed next to the window. For some reason, Dearest Sister hadn't badgered me about who the boy she saw me with was. Maybe she'd never ask.

"Hey, Pinky, there's a boy at the door who says you have some project to do. I let him in because he looks like the same one as last night," Dearest Sister informed me.

I bolted out of bed, grabbing some clothes and heading to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and tugged a hairbrush along at the same time. Thankfully I like to shower at night, so I didn't have to shower before meeting Itachi. I threw on a new set of clothing and dashed out of my room and into the main room of the apartment.

I didn't realize that we forgot to make plans to meet.

"I was concerned that perhaps you had morning plans," Itachi began with a bemused expression, "but it seems as if that is not the case."

_What is he so smug about?_

I glanced down to make sure I'd dressed myself properly. Yep, all my clothing was in the right spots, but…

"It was my mom's," I explained, my fingers fiddling with the hem of the shirt I was referring to. "I got it for her last Christmas."

"I'm guessing she was blond," Itachi replied.

"How did you know?" I asked sarcastically, knowing full well that the shirt insinuated that much.

I thought back to that Christmas morning; things were so simple then. It was before Mom met that American man, Craig. She was single and happy to be unattached. When I handed her the slim box wrapped in blue snowflakes and tied with a silver ribbon, she smiled at me. When she ripped open the wrapping paper and even tore the white box a little, she smiled even wider, holding the shirt up so Dearest Sister could see too. It was blue and said "Dumb Blond" with a picture of a blond girl who had a zipper instead of a mouth. My sister put on a serious face and asked what it meant. Mom and I started laughing until we realized she was serious. Thank goodness Ayame hadn't inherited our mom's hair color.

"_Hun, 'dumb' is another word for 'mute.'"_

And then Dearest Sister was laughing too. Mom promised to wear the shirt the next day she had work and it became Dearest Sister's turn to open a present.

I frowned.

_Mom smiled like that when she met Craig too. And the last time she smiled—_

Itachi's hand waving in front of my face broke my train of thought.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He had a frown to match my own; he must have been trying to catch my attention for a while.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," I said with finality. "Now stop finding excuses to stare at me and let's get to work."

**Does anyone know if they actually sell shirts like that? I would so buy one. **

**Anyway, leave a review; let me know what you thought of this chapter :)**


	5. I am Not Rumplestiltskin

"Oui, moi-même! Yes, myself!" I exclaimed, quoting Dr. Pangloss. "Itachi, I should definitely walk in wearing a lab coat and holding a pan with a tube of lip gloss inside. It would set the mood, I think."

Itachi rolled his eyes at my obvious excitement for executing the idea, but he agreed.

"It _is_ a comedy, I suppose. And then perhaps we could make them guess your name at the end," Itachi suggested.

"I'm not Rumplestiltskin; I don't make people guess my name. I think that if I do it, we should still just introduce ourselves at the beginning like we were planning. Besides, someone would probably say something stupid and sexual."

"Why would you care what they say?"

"I'm a sophomore in a class full of seniors. I've only learned how to fight 3 people at once."

"You think the class would attack you?"

"More like _I_ would attack _them_. It wouldn't exactly be good for the presentation if it ended with me knocking people out."

"That still doesn't explain why you would care in the first place."

I sat down on my purple couch and wondered how to answer Itachi in a believable fashion without telling him the truth.

"I'm a girl. Girls care about that kind of thing," I explained.

"You didn't care very much when I called you a cupcake-whore. That's the same sort of "stupid and sexual" thing that our classmates would say."

"It's different. We're friends, so it's okay if you tease me. I'm new; I don't want to become a target."

"We're not friends if you're so blatantly lying to me," Itachi replied, his eyes narrowing.

"Fine, whatever, they can guess my name. Don't get your panties in a bunch. This is such a stupid argument."

I stood, glaring at Itachi for calling me a liar. Technically I hadn't lied to him: girls _do_ care about that kind of thing. I had simply left out that I wasn't one of those girls and that my reason was entirely different. How could he even tell I was lying?

"Sakura, calm down. I just want to know what's wrong. You had that same exact look on your face when you started thinking about your mother."

_Is that how he knew I was lying? He's way too observant._

"I appreciate your concern, but don't worry. It's all in the past, nothing you can do about it. Now let's practice our play some more."

"We've already gone through it plenty of times; I know we both have it memorized," Itachi pointed out.

"Yes, but we stopped in the middle of that last run-through," I replied.

And then my stomach growled.

"Okay, maybe we should just eat something instead," I amended.

I looked at the time. It was 1:00 in the afternoon and I hadn't even eaten breakfast. For some reason I always seemed to forget about food when Itachi was around.

I saw Itachi getting his shoes on by the door and wondered if maybe I'd finally annoyed him so much that he was done spending time with me. But I'd always been one to jump to conclusions.

"There's a good Korean place down on 24th, would you like to go there?" Itachi asked as he tied his laces.

I guess he wasn't done spending time with me.

"Uh, sure, let me go get my money first," I said uncertainly, starting towards my room.

Itachi grabbed my arm and I turned to face him, oddly not uncomfortable with his relatively gentle grip on my forearm.

"I can pay for you," he offered.

"No, I couldn't let you do that," I insisted, pulling my arm out of his grasp.

"Well then you can pay me in return."

"And how would I go about doing that?" I inquired, eyes narrowed.

"Just tell me what's wrong."

_Is it worth it? The place he's talking about is likely expensive, if his taste in cars is anything to go by… Well I could always just get a cup of soup… But maybe it's so expensive that even a cup of soup is ridiculously priced… Grr, I don't like other people paying for me. Why does he want to know what's wrong so badly? Maybe it would help to tell someone all of it… Even Dearest Sister doesn't know everything… Besides, he still hasn't let it go, there's no way I'll ever convince him to stop asking_

"Fine. But I tell you after we eat and it has to be somewhere secluded," I agreed, wondering if I'd just made the right choice. We were only classmates, what if he told the whole school? Although he wouldn't really have any reason to. Dearest Sister was always saying that I needed to trust people more.

"Good. I swear on Kari that I will not repeat what you tell me to anyone."

"So if anyone else finds out because of you, I can have your car?" I asked a little eagerly.

"…Yes."

Maybe Dearest Sister was right.

* * *

"Wow," I gasped.

I was right about the place being expensive, and even took pictures of the chandeliers to prove it, but the high pricing wasn't what caught my eye.

"That kid has crayons and a menu he can color on!" I exclaimed, more than a little jealous. I craned my neck, shifting in the booth and squinting as I tried to figure out what colors the little boy held in his adorably chubby hands.

"Would you like a children's menu as well?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

I tore my eyes away from the coveted crayons to see a waiter looking at me with both eyebrows raised.

I cleared my throat and said with as much dignity as I could muster, "Yes, I would love a children's menu."

The waiter looked me up and down, as if trying to assess whether or not I was worth a children's menu, then winked as he walked away, presumably retrieving the menu.

_Okay then… winks are actually a little creepy. But hey, I get the children's menu and crayons. I haven't used crayons in years!_

Itachi was smart enough not to comment on my menu choice and instead contented himself to choosing an entrée.

"Your menu, Madame," purred the waiter, leaning over me to set the children's menu on the table with an accompanying box of crayons. "Now what would you like to order?"

Thankfully Itachi ordered for both of us; he seemed to realize that I had never eaten Korean food before.

My stomach growled again after the waiter left.

"I hope this place serves fast or I just might eat you," I mumbled.

"I know that I look delicious, but I assure you that cannibalism is not the answer. This restaurant is known for its quick and delectable service, which is why I suggested it," Itachi replied.

"I bet Ichiraku Ramen is just as quick and ten times more delectable," I couldn't help but retort.

"I assure you that you won't be disappointed in your meal, Madame," the waiter chimed in, already bringing our food.

Were they psychic or something? It's simply unnatural to get your food only minutes after ordering.

_Perhaps Itachi always orders the same dishes when he comes here, so when he entered they started preparing his usual. This place is fancy enough to be capable of that. It really is impressive_

I drew a little strawberry in the margin of the children's menu, then set my crayons down and looked at the food Itachi was serving me.

It was certainly oddly shaped, many lumpy pieces and a ton of rice. Somehow Itachi managed to pile it on my plate in the shape of an "S"— or maybe that was just coincidence.

"You have some food arrangement skills," I tested.

"I've come here with Sasuke since we were both little; he loved when his food was S-shaped," Itachi replied, confirming my suspicion that he had created the S-shape on purpose.

"So he's always had that ego, huh?" I laughed.

"You remember the little boy whose crayons you were jealous of?" Itachi questioned.

"Uh, yeah," I said, unsure where he was headed.

"That is the one human small enough to fit in a room with Sasuke's ego."

I laughed and Itachi smiled. I stop laughing, struck once again by the gentle intensity of an Uchiha smile.

I quickly started eating and flashed a smile between bites so Itachi wouldn't know his smile was the reason I stopped laughing

"Ooh, this food is really good. I think I take back what I said about Ichiraku being equal in caliber," I admitted after sipping some water.

* * *

"Itachi, thank you for paying that check, but I don't know about our deal…" I began.

"You already agreed to it, don't be weak and go back on your word," Itachi snapped.

"No, I mean, I don't think that's enough for me to pay you back, the food was pretty expensive. I don't go back on my word. I'll tell you what you want to know once we find a suitable spot."

"Trust me; I have plenty to spend on meals like those. Maybe one day I can tell you why," Itachi replied, his earlier anger gone.

"Oh, that's not fair! You have some mystery in your past too! You expect me to tell you my past without you telling yours in return?" I asked, tugging at my seatbelt in frustration.

I really shouldn't have complained: it was well worth telling him what haunted me in exchange for that amazing meal. We even had dessert; a brownie sundae sprinkled with strawberries. Which made me think of my children's menu that I had doodled all over as the meal progressed.

"Hey, Itachi, what if I give you my children's menu in exchange for _you_ telling **me** what's wrong?" I inquired hopefully.

Itachi chuckled deeply in response.

"That's offensive; _I_ think my menu is a beautiful work of art."

"It's a work of art all right," Itachi responded, smirking.

"Grrr, just drive," I grumbled.

As soon as I stopped grumbling, we reached a small gravel road and Itachi parked.

He lifted himself out of the car and walked around to my door to open it for me. I didn't move.

"Are you coming? This place meets the requirements," Itachi coerced me.

"Y-yeah, I'm coming," I said, suddenly nervous.

Itachi looked down at me and I could have sworn concern flashed across his countenance. The thought of Itachi being concerned about me made me wonder just how scared out of my mind I looked.

"…You don't have to tell me about it if you really don't want to. I shouldn't have forced you into this," Itachi said softly, setting his hand down on my shoulder very lightly, as if the slight added weight could break me.

I'd never told anyone the whole story before. But I could do this. Definitely. So I put on a brave face and said in a stronger voice, "Yes. Let's go explore those sketchy, beautifully brown trees and I'll tell you the story of why I, Haruno Sakura ended up as your partner in Literature class."

And I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood, transferring his hand to mine for reassurance.

* * *

**Thank you for reading, please be as kind as to review :) **

**Thank you sooooo much to : GreenAnna, LilMonsterLuvsYou, burned-blossom16, Akatsuki Sakura Uchiha, TeenageCrisis, and couples lover for giving me the will to write another chapter :)**

**~I love you all**


	6. Craig the American Idiot

I opened my mouth. Instead of the words I'd mentally prepared coming out, CO2 was emitted and was quickly replaced in my lungs by earthen air and the restored oxygen was looped into my pulmonary veins and entered the heart through the left ventricle and…

_Okay, stop thinking about all that biological nonsense and focus. You can tell him. You can do it. Just start manipulating that overused voice box of yours_

I tapped my nails against the grass surrounding me and looked up at Itachi, who was sitting patiently beside me, staring up at the canopy of tree leaves. I wondered if he knew that it helped to know he wasn't looking at me, and then decided that looking up was probably more interesting than watching me fumble for words.

"All right. So one day I-don't-know-how-long ago, I come home and my mom and Craig are fighting. Wait, that's not a good place to start. Once upon a time, there was a blond mother who loved her daughters with all her heart and even while working a very taxing job made as much time to spend with her two daughters as possible. That's not a good place to start either. At a company New Year's party that the blond mother went to, she met a man named Craig," I began, and then stopped for a few quick, short breaths that conveyed my nervousness at telling this to Itachi. "Craig started out as the epitome of charming (don't they all?), so he and my mom grew close. Keep in mind that my biological father died before I was born.

"So Craig became a common sight at our house. He loved to make crude marks to my sister and me when our mother wasn't home, but we didn't care very much as long as he stayed at least a yard away. As a few months went by, Mom and Craig started fighting with more and more frequency. And then one day I came home to them fighting, about my mother not wanting to have sex with him, of all things. So when I came in, I'd intended to sneak up to my room, but instead, Craig turned towards me and said 'Well maybe _she's_ in the mood!' and…" I stopped; I really didn't know how to say the next part.

Itachi looked down at me, fazed by my sudden stop of monologue. I saw another flash of concern cross his face and realized that I must look like a scared little bunny again.

_I am _so_ not a scared little bunny. Bunnies are really cute though, so maybe if I look like a scared bunny to Itachi, I also look cute to him… Not that I care if he thinks I'm cute. Tangent! I need to stop going off on tangents. I can say this. I will feel better after telling him. Yes. Now… go!_

"And he broke that yard-away unspoken rule and shoved me to the… the ground and started… _touching_ me…"

There, I'd said the harder part; shakily, but I'd gotten it out. Itachi didn't need to know that I'd been more scared than I ever thought a person could be scared or that not being able to move was driving me insane and that I was stone-faced through the whole thing until…

"My mom was furious and scared and she came up behind him with a vase and smashed it over his head. He died and his blood got all over me… It was like poison running over my skin and clothes… I burned those clothes. My mom didn't say anything to me, just 'He didn't mean to, Honey, he was drunk,' and then she walked away. I got out from under Craig and tried to shower away all the sickening feeling. I doused my torso in hydrogen peroxide, hoping the burn would help me feel clean again. It did help a little. When I left for school the next day, I went out the window so I wouldn't have to see his body again. When I came back from school that day…"

_Okay and I thought the other part was hard to say…_

"When I came back from school, I saw mom taking pills; she had this ridiculously huge smile on her face, so I thought it was okay. But then she closed her eyes and didn't re-open them. She was in a chair near Craig. I walked over to see if she was just sleeping but…" my speech slowed to the speed of the tears streaming down my face. "But then I found a note next to her and… and she confessed to killing Craig. She said it was self-defense because he was a violent drunk, but by killing him, she'd lost her last need for this world… because somehow she loved him. And she said… she said that she was sorry to leave Ayame and I, but… but we wouldn't need her anymore, we could take care of each other and she would just be a shell of a human without Craig to take care of her anymore… What happened, Mom? How did he become such a huge part of you? I thought we were your little girls that you'd never leave…"

I stopped trying to hold together and began sobbing. Itachi curled me into his arms and waited as everything came up again, bursting through my defenses like a million bombs.

I have no idea how long it took, but eventually the tears stopped coming and Itachi produced a tissue from his pants pocket so I could wipe my nose. Always the gentleman, that one.

I wiped the tears from my face with my short sleeve and smiled at Itachi, a person I didn't know everything about, but a person who'd been a friend to me since he'd met me.

"The kids at my old school talked too much, that was a terrible school anyway. So Dearest Sister thought it would be much better for me to come here. She knew I'd come home to the suicide note and to Craig, but she didn't even know that Craig had been dead since the day before; she'd been staying in a dorm at college. Now she lives in the apartment with me, I think she feels guilty for not being there when I got home… But anyway, that's how I ended up in your Literature class. My old school had a surprisingly rigorous Literature department, so your class was the best one for me to be in.

"Buuuut I also have a question for you. I think you should tell me why you squander your money on random pink-haired girls' lunch."

Itachi smiled, "Even after saying all that, you can still pester me?"

"It's only because I have awesome skills. You should be happy that I'm okay now. It actually felt great to tell someone the whole story. You are now the only living person to know," I pointed out.

"I am happy that you're okay. What would your sister do to me if I brought you back hysterical and possibly unconscious?"

"She'd probably murder you. You'd be better off having Shisui and Sasuke try to figure out what was wrong," I speculated.

"I'll keep that in mind."

I gave him an incredulous look. "I'm not sure I feel safe riding in a car with you…"

"I'm not going to cause such a thing to happen to you. You just never know what'll happen to a young girl like yourself. I need to be prepared."

I smiled at Itachi again.

"Why are you smiling like you just won the lottery?"

"Because you care."

* * *

It was odd, driving Itachi's car, knowing I'd just told him my deepest secret. It was even odder, because I trusted him to keep it just as he trusted me not to crash his car. And still odder that we hadn't known each other for very long. The moment he started mocking Romeo, we somehow just _clicked_. I wondered if he thought the same.

"Hey, Itachi, when did we become friends?" I asked.

"The second I heard you say something negative about Romeo and Juliet, I considered you a valuable companion. I honestly don't know another person who doesn't like that play," Itachi said with a faint smile.

"Okay. That's actually when I started considering you less of a project partner and more of a friend too."

I tapped the dashboard, waiting for a light to turn green and steeling myself to ask Itachi something. After all I'd told him, asking this was easy.

"Since we're friends and we're being particularly open today, I want to ask you something," I started.

"So ask it," Itachi prompted.

"Why were you asleep in the nurse's office on Friday?"

At that moment, I was very glad that _I_ was the one driving, because Itachi started coughing madly.

"How did you know that? There was a curtain around the bed for privacy," Itachi said, glaring.

"There was no curtain on Friday, I promise. I was curious if the beds were comfy and I was late for class anyway, so I went to check them out and saw you there. I was shocked, and may have stared a little because of that shock, but then I rushed off to class. I felt like it would've been weird to ask you why."

Itachi looked a little confused, and then pointed at the green light to remind me I was driving a vehicle.

"Well I doubt you'd be the creepy type to move aside a bed curtain in a nurse's office and I have no reason to believe you're lying, so I trust that you're right. Who moved the curtain? The nurse always lets me sleep for first period since I have a study hall," Itachi explained.

"It was probably just a prankster. Now that I think about it, one kid did look oddly mischievous after walking out of the office."

"Ah. Did that kid have long blond hair?"

"Yes, actually. Do you know him?"

"Deidara. It would be just like him to pull a stunt like that. He'd know it would irk me without actually doing any harm. Idiot," Itachi confirmed.

"But why would you need to sleep in the nurse's office anyway? Can't you just sleep at home?"

Itachi didn't answer for a few minutes, so I just focused on trying to figure out the way back home.

"I promise I'll tell you one day. Just not today. Today has had enough dismal dialogue. Take a right here," Itachi finished, causing me to switch lanes quickly since I'd thought we needed to keep going straight.

I was confused now. Did his sleeping at school have to do with why he had a lot of money to spend? He did promise to tell me, but patience wasn't one of my better virtues. Maybe if I asked Sasuke or Shisui…

**Uh-oh, Sakura's an impatient one, that can't be good. **

**Anyway, thank you to my reviewers from last chapter, the two wonderful, caring, insightful people who gave me reason to update: XLoveXFallsXToXAshesX and Akatsuki Sakura Uchiha, the latter of whom has reviewed every chapter! **

**You have no idea how happy reviews make me :) Please continue to leave your plentiful thoughts and comments so I can make future chapters even better**


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